Sunday, 23 October 2016

Smiths Metal Centres fined £132,000 after trolley overturned causing worker to lose most of his foot

Smiths Metal Centres Limited, a Bedfordshire metal company was fined £132,456 after a worker suffered severe leg injuries and lost most of his foot.

The circumstances were:

Smiths purchased four wheeled trolley to be used as ‘workstations’ about 20 years ago.

However, employees had chosen to also use them to move metal stock around the site.

There was no risk assessment or written system of work for these trolleys.

A bundle of 18 stainless steel bars weighing about 900kg was a trolley.

The trolley had faulty wheels and there was no record of any maintenance.

The trolley was manually moved by Mr Simpson and another staff member

It tipped over and the bundle of bars fell off the top of the trolley trapping his leg and foot.

He was rushed to hospital by the emergency services.

Mr Simpson’s right leg was broken and his right foot was badly crushed.

Despite a number of operations to save his foot, most of it was amputated and he now has a prosthetic foot. It was many months before he was able to return to work.

Mr Simpson is currently only able to work on a part-time basis.

After the accident, the trolley was given a safe working load of 500kg, ie half the weight placed on the trolley at the time of the accident.

The HSE Inspector Emma Page said:

“Luke’s life has been drastically altered by what happened and this incident could have been very easily avoided with some very simple measures. The right equipment and a correct maintenance system would have prevented this from happening.”